Riding the carousel

Sorry for the double posting!  I'm trying to blog from my phone

Update coming soon!

I finally broke down....

And cut Norah's hair! I was getting so tired of her hair hanging in her eyes and constantly putting and trying to keep barrettes and ponytails in. It's only been a couple days but soooo much better already.

Not so sure about this hair cutting business....

Very excited for the sucker afterwards! Don't ask me why I gave her a blue sucker while she was wearing a white shirt!

Norah is a constant talker! Oh my goodness - 8:00 pm rolls around and I am ready for a break from the constant chatter. She's even starting to call me mom instead of mommy - I have no idea where that came from! Way to early for that! I hear "mommy, mom, mommy, mooooommmyyyy!" over and over again all day! Her words are getting much more clear and she's adding new words everyday. She's starting to get frustrated when I don't understand what she's telling me. I try to change the subject or just say "oh, ok" but she's not having it. I usually figure it out after a few minutes though. Some of the things she says are so cute though: she pronounces applesauce so clearly. When she does something new she will say " i did it" and she says help-a-me and updown instead of just saying up or down (this is probably from me muttering it with the constant picking up and letting her down.

It's been so nice to be able to play outside again. When it was first starting to get warmer and we would go outside to play she would just walk around in a circle saying "outside, outside" like she had never been before. Now it's a struggle to get her to come in. She will wake up from a nap and the first thing out of her mouth is "outside" with a huge smile, and oh the tears if we can't go out!

This girl is a cleaning fool! She loves to clean. We have to take turns vacuuming and she is always picking up pieces of lint or who-knows-what and putting it in the trash. Most kids like playing with toys in the tub but Norah loves to wash down the sides of the tub with a washcloth!

Her birthday is coming up next Friday and she is so excited. I will ask her who's birthday is coming up and she will throw her hands in the air and yell "meeeee!" She's working on making the 2 with her fingers -she's actually pretty good at it. She is always singing happy birthday. I can't wait to see her face when everyone is singing it to her! I know she will love it!

Nothing but class....

Riding on a carousel is serious business

Whipping up a little breakfast

Look how old she looks with those bangs!

One year ago today...

One year ago today I met Norah for the first time. I can't believe it's been a year already but after I look back at the pictures I can tell she has grown so much! She has gained over 8 lbs since we got home. Her language has exploded in the last couple of months and her words are becoming much clearer too. She is a narrator- she will explain everything that we are doing and she makes sure that everyone else hears her too. We have been working on our inside voices - lets just say it's a work in progress.

She has also started throwing some tantrums - she throws herself on the floor and sometimes cries but most of the time it's fake crying. So I just walk away and as soon as she realizes that I'm not watching, she gets back up and goes on her merry way. It's pretty funny. She's also started throwing toys when she gets mad which she knows is a big no no. She's been getting a lot of time outs for that one.

One of her favorite activities is cooking! She got a play kitchen for Christmas and loves making things for mommy :) It's very cute when she pushes the buttons and makes beeping sounds. She really likes standing in the chair next to me in the kitchen when I'm mixing something up. We've also been working on our colors. She gets blue, pink, yellow, and purple right most of the time. She also LOVES to help me put clothes away especially socks. I've been trying to teach her how to find the matches mostly to keep her busy while I hang everything up before she can get to it :) So she walks around saying "match, match." She loves puzzles too and stacking toys - we make towers over and over.

Here are some pictures from a year ago and what we've been up to lately:

18 months

I meant to get this posted sooner (since now Norah is closer to 19 months!) but time just keeps getting away from me! Things are still going really well. Norah is doing new things everyday. Her vocabulary has exploded in the last month. Now I hear "Mommy, mommy, mommy" over and over again:) It's cute but sometimes I wish she'd move on to another word! For a while every other word was owie so I guess Mommy is an improvement! I was trying to make a list of all the words she can say and there are quite a lot. She will also try to repeat any words I ask her to - they don't sound the same but she's trying! I know this will be boring, but I want to write it down so I remember.

She's now saying: mommy, grandma, grandpa, amber, matt, heather (howie), shoe, sock, hat, bye bye, hi, no, ball, puppy, pretty, apple, banana, snack, cookie, cracker, cheese, drink, owie, cold, hot, please, thank you, up, night night, sticker, all done

She also knows almost all of her animal sounds - her favorites are definitely a duck and a monkey (complete with arm motions!)

We went trick or treating and I really didn't think she would get into it since she really doesn't like sweets and really has no concept of candy yet, but oh was I wrong! She loved to walk right up to the doors and hold her bag up and say something that sounded like cookie (trying to say trick or treat). Then she would say thank you, bye-bye and then blow everyone kisses. She was quite the ham! Norah's cousin was dressed up as tigger and when Norah saw him, she looked at his ears and grabbed his tail and just started roaring at him - it was very cute. She helped me hand out candy too and would stand by the front door waiting for kids to come and then she would run over and grab my hand to take me to the door. When I would give out the candy, she would grab a piece out the bucket and say thank you and run to put it somewhere.

Lately her favorite thing is her socks - taking them off, putting them back on, pointing to them, showing me her socks.

Norah has also used the potty quite a few times! I don't push it but I leave it out in case she ever wants to use it and every once in a while she'll go in there and sit down. I know she's not ready for potty training yet since she will still run around in a dirty diaper but everytime she uses the potty means another diaper I don't have to change!

Here are some pics of what we'vebeen up to:

We've Been Busy!

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted last! Time goes by fast and we've been really busy. Plus, I just don't have time to post anything anymore! Norah is still doing great. In the last few weeks she's really started showing affection and now will give me kisses and hugs. She can also blow kisses, but she has a little trouble with the blowing part. She understands everything I say and has started saying a few words. Right now she can say:

Mama, hi, ouch, shoes, icky, teeth, uh oh

She knows what puppies, pigs, lions, ducks, and kitties say too. The sound for pigs and lions is pretty much the same but oh well! She also knows what a bunny does too - she can't quite crinkle her nose so she uses her mouth. She knows how to blow bubbles and is starting to help me pick up her toys and put them back. One of her favorite games right now is take everything out of the toybox and then walk away and not play with any of it! I think that's pretty typical right now and at least I'm happy she'll help me pick it up! She is also really starting to like books. At first she would have nothing to do with them, but now she'll grab a book and back up to sit on my lap to read it. We usually don't get through the whole book, but we'll get there.

Eating has gotten so much better! She will still eat anything and everything, but we've slowed down a little. She will let me prepare food now and doesn't scream everytime she sees food and she's not eating. She will even let me finish eating my lunch when she's done with hers - progress! She is actually chewing food now too. I have been cutting her food into very tiny pieces because she would just swallow everything whole. But now she can actually take bites of things! It's very funny when I tell her to use her teeth- she just grins up at me and starts chomping. It's very cute.

We went to my parents lake house over the 4th and had a great time. Norah loves the water! She wasn't too wild about the life jacket though. We went swimming off the dock and she just kicked and splashed around. I also got engaged over the 4th - talk about being busy! Apparently I felt the need to have all the major events in my life happen at the same time! Here are some pictures from the 4th:

Not so sure about the sand:

I started back to work a couple weeks ago. The first week my family helped out and she started at the sitter this last week. Things are going pretty well - she loves the sitter which makes me happy. Our only issue is that she won't sleep very well there so I get a very tired little girl when I pick her up at night. But I think once she gets in a routine she will do better. She doesn't get upset when I leave - she just goes to the door and waves bye bye to me as I drive out and she's very excited when I pick her up. I was a little nervous about it because she has cried very hard both times I tried to leave her in the church nursery so I wasn't sure how she would do but so far so good! She also got her first black eye! It happened about 2 minutes before I walked out the door to go to work for my first day back (of course)! She fell on the dog and got an instant black eye. It's all better now though. Here are some pictures:

Going for a wagon ride:

Playing shopping - she'll go through the house and put things in her bag:

Looking pretty cool at the zoo. She loves her glasses!

Helping Mama clean. She loves to swiffer the walls :)

Having our first chocolate chip cookie!

What we've been up to

Things have been going so well! Norah has adjusted wonderfully so far. She's been sleeping through the night every night and takes naps very well too. She is a great eater! She will eat anything and everything. She loves to eat and it's really our only struggle right now. She is still learning that food takes time to prepare and she just has no patience for it. So I've been learning to plan ahead and get things ready during nap time so I'm not having to cook a bunch while she's awake. She is getting better though - at least now she lets me take a bite between me feeding her! She's also been learning to feed herself. The first time I put something on her high chair tray, she tried to lick it off but now she's double fisting it! I've also learned if I give her a spoon, she will hold onto it with one hand and then it will take her a little longer to eat and gives me a chance to eat as well! We've been out to eat at a couple of restaurants and that has gone okay - not very relaxing because she has to have food in front of her the entire time if there is any food on the table. She's also learning that not all the food is for her! It wouldn't be so bad if she didn't eat so fast!

But so far that is our only issue so I can't complain too much! She is very attached to me which is great! She won't go to anyone else, well unless they have food :) Norah loves to play outside and is always bringing me her shoes to go out. At first she was very hesitant to touch anything outside, but now she loves to jump in puddles and play in the dirt. She is great with the dogs too. It was so funny at first, because she was so excited to be around them but she was nervous too. She would go up to one of them and she had this nervous laugh and would try to touch them but wouldn't use her hands - she always used her arm or elbow. It was very funny! She's over that and now we're learning to pet and not poke the dogs in the eyes :)

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to since we got home.

Having fun at the swimming pool:

Getting ready for our nap - she loves anything soft!

Swimming in the back yard:

Eating dinner:

Learning to brush our teeth:

Going for a walk. This girl loves her stroller!